Riihimäki awards Onni Jaakonsaari as Athlete of the Year 2025

The city of Riihimäki has decided which Riihimäki residents will be awarded as 2025's athletes, background worker and Good Municipal Citizen. The technical board decided on the persons to be awarded at its meeting on Tuesday, February 24.

Onni Jaakonsaari will be awarded the Athlete of the Year award. Jaakonsaari had an excellent season in 2025 and ended it by winning the Finnish championship in the MX2 motocross class.

Riihimäki awards the athlete of the year with one thousand euros.

Young Athlete of the Year is Sofiia Vaskovska

Taekwondo athlete Sofiia Vaskovska will be awarded the Young Athlete of the Year. She won the Finnish championship in both the youth and adult categories in her weight class. Vaskovska also won an international tournament in Latvia in the 15–17 year old girls category.

Backgrounder of the Year is Jouko Leppänen

Jouko Leppänen of the Riihimäki Bowling Association will be awarded as the Background Actor of the Year in 2024. Leppänen has done very active and selfless coaching and development work for bowling in Riihimäki for years.

Riihimäki awards the young athlete of the year and background worker of the year with 500 euros.

The Good Citizen of the Year is Ari Peltopuro

The Kunnon Kuntalainen honorable mention goes to Ari Peltopuro. Peltopuro has been involved in many roles over the years in promoting the physical activity of Riihimäki residents. He has been actively involved in, for example, developing cycling conditions, guiding climbing for young people and organizing fitness and health exercise events.

The City of Riihimäki will organize an awards ceremony in March 2026.